Punjab police bust major narcotics chain, arrests four Afghanistan nationals

New Delhi: The Punjab police on Sunday (July 4) busted a major drug supply chain with the arrest of four Afghanistan nationals and recovered 17 kg heroin from a unit in South Delhi.

With this seizure, the police dug up another trail leading to Uttar Pradesh. A team has been sent there to unravel the network, DGP Dinkar Gupta said.

The DGP said the accused have been identified as Mujahed Shinwari, a native of Nangarhar in Afghanistan, Mohammad Lal Kaker, Jannat Gul Kakar and Samiullah Afghan, trio from Kunduz region of Afghanistan.

Apart from huge recovery of heroin, the police have also recovered assorted chemicals and lab equipment used to manufacture the drug from the Neb Sarai unit.

The arrests and seizure resulted from a lead uncovered by a Hoshiarpur police team led by SSP Navjot Singh Mahal, which was investigating into certain earlier FIRs registered under the NDPS Act, as part of the ongoing war against drugs.

Divulging details on how dots were connected, the DGP said that the Hoshiarpur police, on May 18, 2021, had recovered 70 grams heroin after arresting Pushpinder Singh alias Tinku and Amit Choudhary, who revealed that they had procured the drug from Jasvir Singh Gajju of Jandiala in Amritsar and Sarabjeet Singh Sethi of Hoshiarpur.

Raids were conducted at Jasvir Singh’s residence, where his accomplice Jagrup Kaur was apprehended by the police party with 100 gm heroin. A thorough search of the house led the police party to the recovery of 1.48 kg heroin, 500 grams gold and Rs 49.48 lakh drug money.

The police later arrested Sarabjeet Sethi from Garhshankar on July 1 and 500 gm heroin was recovered from his possession. Sethi revealed that he had procured the heroin from Afghan Nationals, who run a heroin manufacturing factory in Delhi and Imteyaz, who operates from Uttar Pradesh.

Acting on leads, a police team from Hoshiarpur raided the suspected location in Delhi and busted this manufacturing unit, from where a large quantity of heroin was being supplied to Punjab and other states. Another team has been sent to UP to bust Imteyaz’s module, said Gupta.

SSP Navjot Mahal said that further investigation is being carried out by police to unearth more linkages of the international drug racket and raids are being conducted to nab the remaining accused persons.